It seems that a lot of people want to know more about the Bible. I’ve gotten emails all week long from folks sharing their level of knowledge of the Bible as a whole. Even if they knew a little, they wanted to know more.
So as promised, here is the first installment in the series that I taught back in 2014…
We cannot separate the Bible from God.
In some kind of objective sense that I don’t know I can really put effectively into words, God is separate from the Bible. He existed before the Bible was written. Through the Holy Spirit, He is the author of the Bible. The Bible is somehow less than He is.
But for us, the Bible is the way that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. Through it we discover who He is, what He is like and what He has done. In the pages of our Bible, we learn what He loves and what He hates. When we talk about God, we are really talking about what we’ve learned through the Bible.
Yes, we can learn some things about Him through our own direct observation of the world around us. The Apostle Paul makes a big deal about this in the first chapter of Romans.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (19-20)
Paul’s point is that through observation people can figure out enough about God that they cannot plead ignorance. The condemnation for their sin should not come as a surprise to anyone.
But thinking that natural observation is a sufficient way to know God is just plain silly. We wouldn’t drive at high speed in the dark with only a few stars shining down on us. That’s a recipe for disaster. That light is inadequate to really understand the reality of our circumstance. We would turn on the headlights to illuminate the way.
This is what the Bible does for us. It shines a bright light on things that we can’t really see under our own power or vision. Through it, we can see details and facts that were undetectable to us without it.
Through the Bible, God’s revelation is communicated to us. When I say revelation, I mean it in a very specific way. In the Bible, the word “mystery” is sometimes used. This is a term that is drawn out of secret societies in first century Greek culture. When a person was initiated into one of these societies, they were given some secret knowledge. The thing about this knowledge was that apart from being told by someone who already knew, there was no way to empirically discover it.
Back to the Bible. When I say it is God’s revelation to us, I mean it contains information that we can only know if someone who already knew it told us. The only person who knows is God. So our only path to understanding this knowledge is if God directly tells us. Which He did, in the Bible.
This puts the Bible in a very special category. It actually stands alone in that category. It is the only communication we have from God, telling us things about Himself and about ourselves that only He knows.
In my book Study the Bible Six Easy Steps I devoted the entire first chapter to why we ought to study the Bible. It’s such a critical foundation to our faith that it’s impossible to ignore this.
So let’s look at our Bible. It is composed of 66 individual “books,” or independent writings. From the time of the first book to the “The End” of the last one, one thousand five hundred years elapsed. During that time, at least thirty nine different people held the pen/quill to write the words.
Any group project of 39 people who were not allowed to talk to each other or plan their activity would invariably result in chaos. But not the Bible. It actually hangs together as a coherent work, telling a singular story.
No, it’s not uniform. Individual pieces are told in various ways. Leviticus reads like a law book. The Psalms are poetry and songs. Judges is a history book. Isaiah is a series of relayed messages from God. Matthew is a biography. The epistle to the Romans is a letter. Revelation is an apocalyptic vision.
But it all hangs together and tells us the story of God and humanity. The Apostle Peter, himself under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit puts it this way:
For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21)
The Holy Spirit was the mastermind behind the organization and message of the Bible. God didn’t leave it up to individual people to communicate His message. He orchestrated the entire thing. From start to finish, His fingerprint is on every page.
Of course, individual authors brought their own style to it. We see Solomon’s wise words in Proverbs. Paul’s impeccable logic drives his epistles. Samuel’s storytelling makes 1 and 2 Samuel flow like a novel. James’s practicality moves naturally through his letter.
The Holy Spirit wasn’t a dictator in His inspiration. We see a celebration of diversity in the styles of writing throughout the Bible. But despite the differences, the message was directly from God. It is His way of revealing Himself to us.
Ok, that’s about half of the article. Click here to continue reading the article on my website. (this link will jump to the middle of the article where you can pick up reading) I guess I got a little carried away. There’s a lot to say!
I encourage you to read the whole thing. Toward the end I was able to break down the entire Bible into the ten segments that I intend to explain though this email sequence.
I also wrapped it up with a challenge. I don’t want to give you information just for knowledge sake. I want to see you moving forward in your spiritual life.
Which of the two challenge options is the right one for you? If you’re just starting out, memorizing the books of the Bible would be a great start. If your spiritual life is ready for more, then starting a reading program might be the appropriate move.
Reply to this email and let me know which one you’re drawn to.
Until next time (in 2 weeks),
Dennis
